Are appearances at makeup and skin-care events proper platforms for a presidential candidate?
Probably not, but these days one can't take anything for granted.
Take Sharron Angle, for example. After making a credible attempt to unseat Democratic Sen. Harry Reid in Nevada last fall, the tea party favorite could be gearing up for a White House run. She was in Iowa recently, attending the premiere of "The Genesis Code," a film featuring former presidential candidate Fred Thompson.
And prior to that? On Jan. 21, she appeared at a makeup and skin-care event with Joni Rogers-Kante, founder and CE...

Sarah Palin, Michele Bachmann and Sharron Angle.
Why would anyone visit Iowa at this time of year unless they're testing the presidential waters? And are these the best potential women candidates Republicans can come up with?
First, there's no reason to go to Iowa this time of year unless you're a politician thinking about a presidential run. Believe me, I've lived there and if you think the East Coast snow is bad, try it with temperatures of 20 below and blowing winds.
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While Mike Huckabee has been cagey about whether he'll make another run for the White House, a new poll out Friday finds the former Arkansas governor leading the pack among potential GOP presidential candidates for 2012.
The Public Policy Polling survey has Huckabee with a solid 24 percent support among respondents, ahead of former vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin and Mitt Romney, the ex-governor of Massachussetts, who are tied at 14 percent.
Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich comes in third with 11 percent, followed by Tim Pawlenty, the ex-governor of Minnesota, with 8 percent.
PPP ...

The 2012 election season is shaping up for Republicans. Iowa's GOP said Thursday its presidential straw poll will be held Aug. 3, 2011, and Republicans in Nevada announced that state's caucus is set for Feb. 18, 2012.
The news comes days after the New Hampshire GOP said its first presidential debate for the 2012 primary will be held June 7, 2011. And last month, the Reagan Presidential Foundation said it would kick off the election season by hosting a panel of Republican presidential candidates in the spring.
The results of the Iowa straw poll aren't binding but are traditionally an early g...

Calling the White House tax deal with Republicans the "last straw," Ralph Nader predicted that President Obama will face a primary challenger in 2012.
Nader, a third-party presidential candidate in the four most recent elections, told The Hill a Democrat will step up in two years to represent the progressive wing of the party. It's "just a question of how prominent a person."
The 76-year-old consumer advocate did not commit to running again himself, but said he hoped someone new would come along to stand for liberals.
"Obama's position has been that the liberal, progressive wing has nowhere...

There may be Republicans who think Sarah Palin is too divisive or too much of a lightweight to ever be elected president, but Bobby Jindal isn't one of them.
The former Alaska governor is "absolutely" electable, Jindal told Bloomberg News.
The governor of Louisiana was responding to a Politico editorial by MSNBC host Joe Scarborough that called on the GOP to "man up" and tell Palin she shouldn't make a run for the White House for the good of the party.
"I love Joe. I've been on his show several times," Jindal said. "But I don't like anybody -- whether it's the Republican establishment, D....

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. -- Sam's Club – the Walmart-owned megastore that sells almost everything in bulk – is hardly the epitome of glamour.
So where does a superstar like Sarah Palin set up shop to sign books here? Amid the pallets of canned green beans? Behind the sea of poinsettias? Near the crates of toilet paper? Palin's choice: In the back of the store behind the frozen-food freezers.
But her reception in Clinton – and Mike Huckabee – country was anything but chilly.
More than 500 people lined up on a cold night here to meet Palin, who signed her new book, "America by Heart: Reflections ...

Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee said in an interview while on his book tour in California that the person responsible for the leaked diplomatic cables to WikiLeaks should be executed.
"Whoever in our government leaked that information is guilty of treason, and I think anything less than execution is too kind a penalty," he told reporters while signing books at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library and Museum in Simi Valley, Calif. He went on:
"They've put American lives at risks. They have put relationships that will take decades to rebuild at risk, and they knew full well that they w...

Barbara Bush is the grande dame of the GOP.
And she finally has said something that a lot of Republicans – not to mention Democrats and independents – have been thinking about Sarah Palin. Barbara, never one to mince words, shared her opinion about Palin on CNN's "Larry King Live" Monday night.
"I sat next to her once," Barbara Bush told King. "Thought she was beautiful. And I think she's very happy in Alaska, and I hope she'll stay there."
The former first lady's sentiment touched a nerve in tea party circles on Monday. On Glenn Beck's radio show, he hinted that her remark was shallow befo...